The land of the sun above the clouds
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Apple, who was in Primary 1, raised her cute little round face and said to me, "Teacher, I also want peace in your heart." I pulled her over and said, "You can also have peace. Teacher will help you pray."
Apple was one of my students from Emei Elementary School who participated in Taiwan’s ADVENT Character English Camp in 2012. Emei Township is a beautiful Hakka hometown surrounded by mountains and rivers in Hsinchu County. There are several breakfast shops, noodle shops and grocery stores scattered on the two main streets of the town. The five of us, "foreign buns" from the United States to Taiwan, were on the balcony of the Emei Church's Tianlun Pavilion, looking at the orange-purple sunset, each thinking about the missionary challenges we were about to face.
The uneasy mood gradually disappeared amid the enthusiasm of the Emei Church's mobilization. Pastor Fan Bingtian and Mrs. Xiuli led more than ten young people to participate in the Character English Camp. In the morning, more than a hundred students from grades one to six (divided into four classes) attended Emei Elementary School. In the afternoon, we all moved to Fuxing Township, a fifteen-minute drive away, to attend classes with more than sixty primary school students (divided into three classes).
We, the five ADVENT English teachers who were sent to Emei Township, only met four days before the camp: Jonathon and Brian are brothers, traveling from Northern California to Taiwan, and my daughter Ellison and I are mother and daughter, living in East New Jersey in the United States. Another teacher, Irene, also came from Northern California. All teachers who sign up for ADVENT must attend a three-day "concentrated training camp." I am also the team mother, responsible for taking care of the teachers’ daily life and liaising with the school.
The three days of intensive training included various exercises including leading songs, leading games, acting, preaching the gospel, and praying for resolution. More than a hundred young people from all over the world attend classes in groups. They eat, bathe, and sleep in Datongbu in groups. Their daily life is a different experience, and they can learn lessons of humility, obedience, and seriousness in everything.
The Character English Camp course starts with the whole class joining together, learning English songs and playing games as an icebreaker to warm up the relationship between students and teachers. Then the teachers will perform a short play to present the main themes of the course. After being divided into classes, they will review and extend the sentence patterns and words.
▲Pastor Zhang Yuming (third from left) and his colleagues visited the Emei team and were warmly received by Pastor Fan Bingtian (second from left) and Mrs. Xiuli (first from left) of Emei Church.
The above camp process was almost completely disrupted by more than a hundred energetic and lively primary school students on the first morning of school. The first morning came to an end, and we were sweating, panting, and looking at our lunch in a daze. After calming down, everyone quickly discussed and adjusted the course and activity procedures while enjoying the Hakka food.
After praying, they picked up their schoolbags and a group of five people, including young people from Emei Church, headed to Fuxing Elementary School. During the five-day camp, we experienced God’s grace and power every day through prayer, lesson preparation, classroom teaching, meals, and sleep. In many uncontrollable situations, there are unexpected results. A team of five people who were originally "unfamiliar" entered and exited the gospel battlefield together, and became a family because of the love of the Lord. Whenever we drive into Fuxing Elementary School, we will always see a Buddha statue more than 20 stories high, but our hearts are calm and steady, because the Lord Jesus is leading the army, and with Him leading the way, we rely on the Lord to win.
"Whether you live in the beautiful mountains, or lie down in the dark valley..." Hundreds of innocent students sang "The Sun Above the Clouds" with clear voices. I was playing the piano accompaniment with tears streaming down my face, hoping that this group of rural children who were considered "disadvantaged" would remember this hymn and find that the Lord has prepared it for them every time they raise their heads.
We would like to thank Pastor Fan, the teacher’s wife and the entire youth fellowship of Emei Church for their help and working together with us. Especially the delicacies and snacks prepared by my wife were a timely nutritional supplement for us. I would also like to thank Pastor Zhang Yuming, the team leader of ADVENT, his wife, and four very serious and humble children for helping ADVENT organize and design an almost perfect training course, making us more than competent in the classroom.
Author profile
Wu Xinhui is a writer and full-time mother who loves reading, music, travel and food. With a humorous and grateful attitude towards life, he lives in New Jersey with his husband and children as a family of five.